A man was shot dead through the windscreen of his car as he drove along a busy road in Merseyside, police said yesterday. The incident continued a disastrous start to the new year in the north-west of England, with a second victim shot in Liverpool city centre and a third shot in the leg in a Manchester park.

The shootings came less than a week after a woman police officer was wounded by a gunman near Preston, and the death of another Manchester man who was taken to hospital in a blood-soaked car with two friends also suffering from bullet wounds.

Detectives investigating the driver who was killed behind the wheel of his gold Land Rover at 9.15pm on Saturday made house-to-house inquiries in the Halewood area of Merseyside yesterday. The 35-year-old man was named locally as Derek Stevens. Merseyside police said formal identification was likely to come today after a postmortem examination.

Traffic police and paramedics were originally called to the scene after the vehicle careered head-on into another car, and found that the driver was dying from a shot to the head. The single bullet hole in the windscreen of the Land Rover Discovery could clearly be seen.

The victim lived near the busy stretch of Mackets Lane, where the incident happened.

Chief Superintendent John Young, the area commander of Knowsley for Merseyside police, said: "We don't think it's a random shooting."

The victim's body was still in the Land Rover for much of yesterday as specialist officers worked out the likely angle of the shot and where the gunman had been.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Wadmore said: "We are carrying out extensive inquiries to build up a picture of events leading up to this incident and we are appealing to the public to come forward with any information."

The 36-year-old man driving the other car, a silver Ford Focus, was treated at the scene for whiplash injuries, but did not need hospital treatment. It is thought that the Land Rover slewed out of control into his path immediately after the shooting.

Streets round the Mackets Lane junction with Yew Tree Road, not far from the Ford plant at Halewood, remain sealed off for forensic science checks and drivers were asked to avoid the area.

Wadmore said: "Mackets Lane is a busy thoroughfare and there is a parade of shops close to the junction with Yew Tree Road. If anyone saw people acting suspiciously or any other vehicles in the area at that time, please contact us and tell us."

A local resident said that the attack was highly unusual and that there was not a gun problem in Halewood: "I wouldn't live here if there was."

Police said they were not linking the shooting with other recent firearms incidents, including an attack on a 21-year-old at his home in Liverpool's Kensington area on Saturday night. Several men forced their way into the house at 9pm and shot the man in the leg before driving off in a white Transit van. The victim was taken to hospital, but his injuries were described as "not life-threatening".

Merseyside police said: "We believe that this is a targeted attack, although the motive is not yet clear."

Greater Manchester police, meanwhile, are appealing for witnesses after a shooting in a park at Cringle Fields, Burnage, at 8.20pm on Saturday. The 25-year-old victim, who lives locally, has been discharged from Manchester Royal Infirmary after treatment for leg injuries.